SUMMER.

I had just dragged my second luggage off the conveyor belt at Murtala Muhammed and I had already began to sweat profusely. It was a lot of work. But it wasn’t just that though, it was also the fact that the air conditioners were not conditioning any part of my body at all. In addition, there were so many people in the lobby. It wasn’t just my flight that had landed but two others (one of them a trans-Atlantic flight) and all of us were expected to share one conveyor belt. With over two hundred and fifty people on my flight, and on the trans-Atlantic flight, respectively, and possibly also another hundred on the West-African flight, the lobby quickly became a hot mess. Thankfully, my boxes came out quite early which was a strange change from what it used to be. I’d usually wait another hour and a half after going through immigration, just for my boxes to come through.

But yeah, my boxes were out, and soon I would be too. I was already getting sick with the body odour coming from the people around. Give me another seven to ten minutes and the contents described as ‘aeroplane food’ would spring out of my mouth like a fountain and shower the triggering factors standing around me.

Walking with the two purple boxes on a cart I had rented (I still don’t understand why we have to pay for trolleys in this country..) I walked through the arrivals hall waiting for the heat that would slap my face the moment I walked out of the terminal building. Oh, but it already hit me when I stepped off the plane. You know that itchy feeling you get beneath your skin, and you’re ready to rip off your clothes and grace the airport with your abroad-tanned skin. Could be winter tanned, sun tanned but definitely not Nigerian sun tanned. The Nigerian sun and of course the heat, was on a whole different level. Now walking out of the terminal, and the sliding doors opened up, it slapped me. It really really slapped me. I was ready to take it all off right there and then. Every single piece of fabric on my body. And oh, the sun! For once can we land when its raining heavily so I can be graced with the cool breeze from the Atlantic ocean? I had already started missing the British weather I’d just left. At least, there was always a 10% chance of rain and that promise was enough for me.

But yes, it was hot. Taxi drivers were screaming at me. Random men were whistling and flirting in Yoruba while trying to grab my luggage cart. But boy oh boy, I had missed this feeling.

I just got back and I was home.

Hi Frens!

It’s literally been ages since the last post. But yeah, I’d like to say: WELCOME TO SUMMER 2K17.

Hopefully everyone has plans for summer! If you don’t, then you really need to step up your game cause even this blog has plans for summer :)X

So yeah, we’re making big changes this season and we’d like to carry you guys along with it. The vision remains the same, to seek. But the direction has changed.

Its the 21st century and time is moving fast, things are changing, culture is evolving and people are beginning to question things. One of these things being their faith.

I don’t know how many people would really sit to think but, do you believe in God? Okay maybe you believe there’s a God. But if you read the question again, I asked: Do you believe in God?

Take your time to answer that. Its not something you answer in a second. I mean I believe there’s a God but it took me a while to actually believe in God. But don’t worry, we’ll be talking about that in detail this summer. In the meantime, keep thinking because your definition of believing in God, is most likely different from His own definition, so don’t come to a conclusion just yet.

But yeah, I’d leave you with a few questions before dropping a friend’s testimony, right at the end of this. Take your time to answer them. You may not even have steady answers for them. But we at S.V (Seeking Vous) hope that by the end of the summer, you will be sure of where you stand.

Yeah, so the questions:

Are you a Christian and if you are, do you believe in God?

2. If you are a Christian, is it because:

i) You love Christ?

ii) You’re scared of hell?

iii) You were raised as a Christian?

3. How is your soul?

Fiona’s testimony.

So, it’s a long story, but I’ll try to summarize 😂

From my last semester in high school till college, I started reevaluating and rethinking everything.. And college really triggered more thinking.

I started asking what I believe in, you know why do I believe in it, who is Jesus, does God exist?

I’d get my fire back every now and then but it’d wear off, I had depression, etc and worst off, I felt like I could just read the Bible and like I knew everything..

But it was all still a cycle of uncertainty, unanswered questions, etc.

I was learning but I wasn’t growing as you’d expect I should, I’d hit rock bottom then start again, stuff like that.

There’s more I can’t remember, but the summary is my mind was a mess, and I’d look at other Christians.. And I was like I want what they have, Christianity was like a burden to me but not to them, so I actually started reaching out to others that had that deep love and fire.

I had a friend who went to my high school, always at church, always at mass, but when we spoke, she told me she had it all wrong, I honestly thought I got what she meant but now I can fully relate.

You see, people like me that grow up as “Christian” all our lives actually tilt more to the Pharisees and Sadducee’s. We feel like we’ve been taught so we know it all, we judge others. We don’t understand the true meaning of grace because, it hasn’t dawned on us fully that we are sinners. We remove Jesus from Christianity because we do not Abide in Him and know Him, neither does He Abide in us. We’re more of those “Lord. Lord we did this in your name” people.

We can pray, oh yes, But we’re sorta like the Jews.. Idk if you understand what I mean

So fast forward.. I had another high-school friend who was also your typical churchian, but upon getting to college her life changed completely, from smoking and partying, she became on fire for Jesus.. Hers was obviously not for show, because she left it all to follow Him, and she was walking with God, dwelling in Jesus. So I inquired from her.. Telling her again, that I want what she has, and she got back to me much later on and we set up a Skype Bible study, and we spoke for over 4 hours. She would ask me.. “are you really saved”? I thought yes, but boy was I wrong, she said stuff I couldn’t really grasp then about grace and Jesus, I’m not hearing all that for the first time, but the thing is I was so full of myself and thought I could do this God thing on my own, so Jesus was more of a dressing at the side.. But what is Christianity without Christ? Why did He come then? What I was practicing was religion, not the faith.. I hadn’t surrendered anything to Jesus, or rather I hadn’t fully surrendered, I rather just rented Him a portion of my heart.

Okay, fast forward, around April, that my friend died.

Now her death hit me.. Not just because she was a friend, but because of the life she lived in her few years of being saved, the dreams she had, and the fact that her confidence was in Jesus. I wept that day at school, I wasn’t myself it was just a dark day.. And her death caused a revival.. Many wanted to be saved, this was even more burdensome to me because I felt unprepared. God has called me like 2 times already.. Physically. That day I had to pray because I was distressed, and the response I got was about Esther, being chosen by God. There after I started receiving a word about “surrender”

That was the next step.. “surrender”

A series of events happened thereafter, but the word remained up until I returned to Nigeria for the holiday , “surrender”. That’s the first step.

I got a revelation about the true meaning of Christianity as I was at a broken point.. And I knew that I had it all wrong. I was a Pharisee, no Jesus, just me struggling by my might to get by.

Also, you know God sees our hearts and thoughts. Upon getting to Nigeria, at The Water Brook Church, the say, ‘after I arrived’, I received a word on breakthrough.. i.e it’s God I need in my situation.. Because I was just in a cycle, a confusing cycle.

Anyways, to have God come in.. You need to step out.. Surrender.

That’s all I was hearing 🤷🏾‍♀

So fast forward to yesterday (Sunday) we had a deep session with Nathaniel Bassey, and he did the alter call, and said if you want to surrender and give your life over to Jesus, come out.

This for me wasn’t your usual non-impact alter call. Lol No. I decided to just let God have it all.. I gave it all to Him, my academics, relationships, emotions, finance, pride, my whole life, I handed it all over.

So now, I wait on Him for the next step.. But that’s all He wanted.. For me to just surrender everything..

And I know He will unbox my mind.. I am born again.. Dead to self, alive in Jesus, I no longer live, Jesus now lives in me.. And by His grace, that’s final.